This invention relates to a method and apparatus for cooling system management. In particular, this relates to a method and apparatus for cooling system management based on in situ characterization of components participating in a cooling system. At macro level, the cooling system is considered as an assembly of passive (for example, pipe distribution) and interconnected active elements (for example, computer room air conditioning units, or “CRACs”) to build a coherent looped function.
Within a computer center containing many computers, power needs to dissipate to avoid damaging the computers. Average computer center power has tended to increase in line with increases in processor performance within the computers. This tendency poses a challenge at the computer and computer center level as better performance is needed to cool and to limit the temperature of the air of the computer center.
In many large server applications, processors along with their associated electronics (for example: memory, disk drives, power supplies) are packaged in removable drawer configurations stacked within a rack or frame. In other cases, the electronics may be in fixed locations within the rack or frame. Typically, the components are cooled by fluid cooling circuits. In some cases, it may be possible to handle increased power dissipation within a single drawer by providing greater fluid flow, through the use of more powerful fluid pumping devices or by increasing the rotational speed (that is, revolutions per minute) of existing fluid pumps. However, this approach becomes problematic with increasing complexity of the installation.
Addressing thermal imbalances within a data centre is often an expensive and time consuming operation. Therefore, there is a need in the art for methods which facilitate thermal and energy based design, analysis and optimization of electronics equipment of a data center.